I am currently reading Linda Darling-Hammond's Powerful Learning. It's a terrific book, full of research concerning teaching for understanding and making thinking visible. LDH discusses the value of concrete experience, saying that it is often a prerequisite to "learning to use information in more abstract or general ways."
I was reminded of a June finalization meeting with one of our school's "car boys." Three of our male students made it their mission to repair two cars this year. C. was telling me about attaching the new exhaust pipe on J's Fiero. He said that it was very difficult to attach the spring. I asked him why the exhaust pipe needed a spring. His explanation impressed me.
At first C. said that he didn't know why it needed a spring--he'd never thought about it. He thought for a minute and said that he figures it needs a spring for the same reason the body of the car is "held up" by springs, that roads aren't smooth and you "need something with play in it" between the road and the body. "It takes some of the bounce. Makes less stress on the body." I asked him what he meant by "stress" and he used the exhaust pipe as an example. He said that it is made of hard metal and that if it kept getting "slammed" by bumps in the road, it would break, maybe snap apart.
He continued to think and then said, "It's like when you shoot a gun. If you have the stock pressed up to your shoulder, it "absorbs some of the kick." He said it hurts some, but it moves "with the gun." He said if you were to hold the gun out away from your shoulder and shoot it, it would slam into you and "cause some damage." C wasn't sure that was a "good analogy," but thought that it was probably the "same principle.".
C. is on his way to understanding physics--suspension, oscillation, transfer of energy, etc. His hands-on experiences and purposeful reflection are working together. He is teasing out some important abstract principles that he can generalize to many situations. This is learning.
In the fall, we'll take it a step further with C. He's ready to learn the terminology and begin to tie up the loose ends of his thinking. I have to believe that he will own this learning and take it with him to a much greater extent than if he had learned it by wading through a textbook.
I was reminded of a June finalization meeting with one of our school's "car boys." Three of our male students made it their mission to repair two cars this year. C. was telling me about attaching the new exhaust pipe on J's Fiero. He said that it was very difficult to attach the spring. I asked him why the exhaust pipe needed a spring. His explanation impressed me.
At first C. said that he didn't know why it needed a spring--he'd never thought about it. He thought for a minute and said that he figures it needs a spring for the same reason the body of the car is "held up" by springs, that roads aren't smooth and you "need something with play in it" between the road and the body. "It takes some of the bounce. Makes less stress on the body." I asked him what he meant by "stress" and he used the exhaust pipe as an example. He said that it is made of hard metal and that if it kept getting "slammed" by bumps in the road, it would break, maybe snap apart.
He continued to think and then said, "It's like when you shoot a gun. If you have the stock pressed up to your shoulder, it "absorbs some of the kick." He said it hurts some, but it moves "with the gun." He said if you were to hold the gun out away from your shoulder and shoot it, it would slam into you and "cause some damage." C wasn't sure that was a "good analogy," but thought that it was probably the "same principle.".
C. is on his way to understanding physics--suspension, oscillation, transfer of energy, etc. His hands-on experiences and purposeful reflection are working together. He is teasing out some important abstract principles that he can generalize to many situations. This is learning.
In the fall, we'll take it a step further with C. He's ready to learn the terminology and begin to tie up the loose ends of his thinking. I have to believe that he will own this learning and take it with him to a much greater extent than if he had learned it by wading through a textbook.
1 comment:
I keep coming back hoping to see another post! Did you know Linda is being considered for the cabinet position for Education. It would be a smart move for Obama and our nation to choose her.
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